It's a Slaughter Down There!
by Byron

The Houghton auction is going on this very moment while I type and boy is it a slaughter down there!

I'd been in the room for about an hour, surfing the web, when Lisa rushed into the room and said "My god, things are going so cheap down there it's incredible; you gotta come see this!"  I grabbed my wallet and quickly followed her down to the second floor.

As we walked into the room I could feel that the traditional aire of excitement found at auctions just wasn't there.  Although the room was nearly filled to capacity, probably over 200 people, there was not the frenzied flashing of bid cards.  Seems that some of the stoneware pieces were selling for $7.50 (this is probably the extreme) but other standard, larger stoneware vessels were going for $25-$45 and they were only up to item 75.

During preview I heard people talking about the lack of quality pieces, especially the artware offered, and the fact that many of the (over 400) items were not Red Wing.  As I reviewed the offerings, covering tables against the walls all the way in the back and up the side of the room, I noticed that around 85%-90% of the offerings were stoneware.  There is a box of 20 pieces of Oomph, a couple canoes, some basic (damaged kitchenware).  Lisa picked up a small crocky vessel with a large wing for inspection, we both noticed this line that seemed to run all around the bottom portion of the outside wall.  When I realized what it was I grabbed the piece as if Lisa was about to drop Hague (our son).  The darn thing had a crack running clear around the base; I thought the weight placed on the base just by picking it up would cause top to separate from the bottom!

On the other hand, I did see one man walk out with a very big grin on his face and, what seemed to be, a 10 gallon cooler in very good condition.  When one of the canoes came up, and sold for $195, Lisa evidently leaned over to mom and said, "I wondered if they were awake."

It's pretty fun watching Dino, as an RWCS convention "Virgin", is tempted into a first date frenzy by the seducing volumes and low prices (compared to North Carolina anyway) he has seen in Rochester.   Although I don't think he's serious, the terms "U-Haul" and "Storage Unit" did come up in the conversation a couple times!